


Doctor Dolly

by DoomFox



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Blood and Gore, Bodyswap, Cussing, Horror, Slasher, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:47:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26841640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoomFox/pseuds/DoomFox
Summary: During an assault on Robotnik's base, the Doctor himself is mortally wounded. However, his strangest creation may hold the key to his survival...Written for Spooky Month! WOOOOOOOO!
Comments: 8
Kudos: 21





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this is a little bit of a... _different_ take on the origins of the Tails Doll, which I wrote because I felt like writing an 80's slasher-type fic for spooky month! Just a short story, two chapters, I hope people enjoy it!

The doctor was dying. He knew.

His body had been shot multiple times. He was bleeding profusely, his limbs growing cold, his vision swimming as he raised his own energy pistol and fired back at his assailant.

Beyond, ducking behind a conduit, a furry orange figure clutched his own weapon and called out to the doctor.

"Jeez, come on doc! Let me patch you up!!"

The doctor wiped a gob of blood from his mouth and snarled as he slapped it to the ground.

"DAMN YOU, TAILS!!!!" The doctor roared as best he could, coughing with the exertion, "YOU SHOT ME!!!"

Behind his cover, Miles Prower cursed himself for the hundredth time since his encounter with the doctor. He hadn't meant to... _lose it_ the way he had, hadn't meant to override the stun settings on his weapon... but after seeing Sonic laid low by the doctor's latest battle mech, the tyrannical scientist laughing over what could have been his brother's corpse...

"Eggman, please!" The fox cried back, the trail of Robotnik's blood gleaming in the laboratory lights, tears in his eyes at what he'd done. "I can fix you! I just need you to cooperate!!"

"COOPERATE?!?" The doctor bellowed, feeling along the wall, supporting his wobbling legs, the pain from his wounds unbearable. He searched around his machines, his inventions, his weapons, for _anything_ that could save him... but there was nothing. He was doomed.

"YOU'VE KILLED ME, TAILS!!!!" The doctor spluttered, his own blood running down his chin, "YOU'VE KILLED ME YOU LITTLE... orange..."

The doctor paused in his dying ranting as he stumbled through his prototype robots storage. Various unfinished models of Badniks remained here, the long-unused form of Mecha-Sonic... and a small, orange figure, more like a plaything in appearance, a single red antenna hanging limply from above wide, staring eyes.

He'd never given this thing a name. It was one of his more 'eccentric' creations, built when he was blind drunk and enraged from another defeat at the hands of the infernal hedgehog, designed to resemble Sonic's adopted brother Tails out of spite. He remembered only its function... to suck the life-force from living beings, store their chaos energy for his own use. He'd never finished it, but...

To suck.. the life force... from living beings...

What about _dying_ beings?

The doctor, his body ruined and expiring and close to death, his mind delirious from blood loss, began to grin wide as an insane thought entered his brain. He scanned around for tools, grabbing at what he could find with his bloodied, cold hands.

"I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS, TAILS!!!" The doctor spat as he worked, rolling up his sleeve and interfacing his arm-implanted computer, linked to his brain, into the systems of the doll-like entity with a clutch of wires. "I'LL GET YOU!!! NO MATTER WHAT!!!!"

In the back of the lab, following the doctor's trail of blood, Miles Prower swallowed his nerves... and paused, stock still, fur standing on end with fear as the doctor's maniacal laugh echoed from beyond. Tails tried to make himself move, but couldn't. The doctor's laugh was desperately insane, rising to a shrieking crescendo before wheezing out into nothing as quickly as it had started.

Tails waited several seconds, his heart pounding in his ears, before he willed it in him to move. He stepped cautiously through the lab, ears perked, scanning for danger, simply following the doctor's blood like a trail of breadcrumbs.

"D.. Doc?" the fox whispered, pistol at the ready and set to stun, as he rounded a corner into a tight, elongated room. Non-functioning robots lined the walls, some of them recognizable, all of them going ignored by Tails as he entered the dark room... and his eyes landed on the splayed, unmoving form of Doctor Robotnik. 

Tails didn't have to check his vitals. He knew the doctor was dead.

The fox lowered his weapon and, heart in his throat, approached the corpse of the tyrannical human. He lowered to the laboratory floor and checked the doctor over anyway, finding no signs of life.

"Oh Chaos..." the fox muttered, ears drooping, "I... I killed him..."

Tails looked at the weapon in his hand, and took a deep breath. What was done was done. No going back now.

The fox looked over the corpse again and moved to leave the dead Robotnik where he was. He had to get back to Sonic, the hedgehog being unconscious and awaiting backup from their teammates as Tails pursued the doctor. 

Then he frowned. There were tools scattered around the doctor, on the bench above and around his body, and wires trailed from some kind of implant in his arm... to a small, orange doll-like thing that looked a hell of a lot like...

"Oh, gods..." Tails muttered, reaching out and taking hold of the 'doll' with disgusted fascination, "What.. the heck are _you?_ "

The little orange thing, about half as tall as Tails, was some kind of crude caricature of himself. Held together with stitching, big blue eyes staring from above a stupidly wide smile on its' 'face'. He pressed at the stuffing, finding what felt like a metallic endoskeleton inside. Some kind of strange antenna sat atop its head, with what looked like a red crystal on the end.

A tiny robot, built with a doll-like plush exterior, designed to look like Tails. 

"What the heck were you _on_ , Robotnik?"

_"Tails? Tails! Come in, Tails!"_

Tails jumped in his skin and almost threw the doll across the room as his wrist communicator crackled with the voice of Knuckles, the third member of Team Sonic. Tails tried to calm his beating heart, glaring at the doll in his hand, and raised his communicator to his mouth.

"Yeah..." the fox mumbled, looking into those cold, dead eyes, "Yeah, Knuckles. I'm here."

_"Thank the Emeralds! I got Sonic here, he's coming round just fine... where the hell did you get off to?!"_

"I... went after Eggman. Wanted to capture him before he got away." Tails licked his lips and forced himself to look away from the creepy doll. "I failed. He's... dead."

_"... repeat that, Tails. What did you say?"_

"He's dead. Eggman is dead."

_"...….okay, Tails. Rendezvous with us and... we'll get out of here, okay?"_

"Negative.." Tails responded, setting the doll back on the doctor's chest and standing to his feet, "There's... stuff here that could be of use to us. Technology. And I... don't think we should just leave the body."

_"Well, I couldn't give a crap about egghead... but if there's stuff in there you can use, be my guest, Tails. Just don't take too long."_

"Fine, Knuckles. I'll be ten minutes." Tails looked back to the weird little doll sitting on Eggman's chest. Again, he reached down and picked it up, regarding it with fascination. "What _are_ you?" He muttered. As though the doll could answer.

He almost had a heart attack as the thing _blinked,_ twitched its head, and _spoke._

_"Hi! I'm... the Tails Doll! Robotnik prototype special unit zero zero zero! Please input directives!"_

Tails held the thing at arms' length, eyes bulging, as the thing again went silent. He leaned his head toward the inert 'Doll' and scrutinized it curiously. "You can talk?"

The thing's head twitched again. _"Hi! I'm Tails Doll! Robotnik prototype special unit zero zero zero! Please input directives!"_

Jeez, that was creepy. Tails recognised the phrasing as the simple robotic spiel of a mindless machine, but it spoke with such an unnervingly cutesy sing-song voice... it made his fur stand on end.

"I.. am definitely taking a look at you, you creepy little thing..."

The 'Tails Doll' didn't respond, hanging limp in his hand as he turned and marched away, wondering how he was going to explain the doctor's death to Sonic.

Tails didn't notice the brief glow in the eyes of the doll as he rounded the corner, out of sight of the doctor's deceased body.

............................................................…

_"And next on Mobotropolis today, a world without Doctor Robotnik. How we can finally sleep safe at night, coming up at nine pm..."_

Amy Rose sighed as she stirred her tea, the tv flickering quietly in the background of the kitchen. At the table, staring darkly through the screen, Sonic sat with arms folded, bandage still around his head, a grimace over his face as he absorbed the information from the news.

"Here..." The pink hedgehog padded toward her friend in her slippers, handing him a cup of hot liquid. "It'll make you feel better."

Sonic grunted and gloomily accepted the drink, his good cheer having evaporated with the recent death of Robotnik.

"We were supposed to capture him..." the hedgehog muttered, "Not kill him..."

"Sonic, please..." Amy said, clutching her own tea as she rubbed his shoulder, "It was always going to happen sooner or later... you can't fight against a man like that and pull your punches forever!"

Sonic didn't reply, staring through his tea.

"You need to talk to Miles..." Amy said, giving his blue fur a squeeze, "He... thinks you hate him now... you don't hate him, do you?"

Sonic didn't reply, seemingly unwilling to pursue the subject with her.

She sighed. "I don't know what I can do to help you, Sonic..." she said, turning and slapping over the kitchen floor in her slippers, "But if you need anything... you know where I am, okay?"

sonic offered her a single nod in reply, the blue hedgehog looking more miserable than she had seem him in years.

Again, Amy breathed deep, and left the kitchen to retire to the spare room of the brothers' house, leaving Sonic to brood by himself.

The blue hedgehog, alone now, raised himself from his chair and ambled over to the tv. He glared at the screen, before reaching out and flicking the switch. The screen went black, leaving him looking at his own reflection.

Amy was right. He needed to talk to his little brother. Sonic checked the time on the wall mounted clock. It was still early evening, Tails would almost certainly still be awake.

The hedgehog set his drink down, and made for the workshop where his brother would be.

….............................................…

Sonic made his way through the workshop, passing stacks of spare parts, tools, half-constructed inventions... all the kinds of things the young engineer needed to perform his work. He found the fox in question, head in hand, idly clicking at his console while a tv flickered to his left. Displaying the news, no doubt.

Sonic cleared his throat before he approached, causing orange ears to flicker. "Hey, little buddy..." the hedgehog said lightly, padding over the workshop floor, "What you... uh, doin'?"

Tails briefly glanced at his adopted brother with big, bloodshot eyes. Big bags hung beneath the lids. He clearly hadn't slept much since... the incident a couple of days previously.

"Nothing much..." The fox replied glumly, grabbing a flask of something - not caffeine, Sonic hoped - and taking a drink. "Just going through some of Robotnik's data... he's not gonna need it any more, after all..."

"Oh," replied Sonic, ambling toward the console and leaning over his brother, inspecting the information on the screen. He didn't understand it, but had to break the ice somehow. "Anything... uh, interesting?"

Tails just looked at him tiredly. "He was a mad scientist with an insane imagination and plans to dominate the _world..._ " the fox replied bluntly, "So yeah, there's more here than just his shopping list and bank statements."

"Hey, there's no need to get like that, buddy..."

Tails shrugged. "Sorry... I guess I don't need to give you any more reason to hate me..."

Sonic pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Look, Tails... I don't hate you... it was always going to come to this one day..."

"So you think I did the right thing?" Tails scoffed, "Killing Robotnik? I thought we were supposed to be better than that?"

"No, Tails..." Sonic replied, "I just... if it had to happen, it should have been me to do it. You're my little brother. You shouldn't have had to be the one to..."

"Pull the trigger?"

" _Tails..._ " Sonic groaned, "Just... please know that I don't hate you... I'm just disappointed in myself for... giving you no choice but to do what you did. If I'd have been more careful, not been so _reckless_ like I always am... we could have beaten Eggman, and captured him... like we were supposed to..."

Tails snorted. "Guess it didn't go that way, huh?"

"I guess not."

The two brothers sat in silence for a few moments, the tv flickering quietly beside them, unsure how to continue their conversation.

"Well, buddy..." Sonic said, leaning away from his brother and stretching, mouth opening in a wide yawn, "I'm gonna hit the hay..." he looked down at his brother with concern, noting Tails' drooped ears and slumped form. "If you need anything dude... just wake me. Okay?"

Tails shrugged, not taking his eyes away from the computer screen. "I'll be fine."

Sonic opened his mouth to say more... but decided it was best to leave smouldering foxes lie for now. He wiped at his nose and turned around... and yelped in surprise as his eyes landed on something he hadn't noticed walking into Tails' 'shop.

"Woah, Sonic?!" Tails spun around in his computer chair and gawped at the suddenly tense hedgehog, "What the heck, man?!"

Sonic, spines raised and eyes wide, held a hand over his heart and took a deep breath as he calmed himself down. "Sorry, dude..." the hedgehog said, as Tails came to stand beside him, "It's just..." he pointed, "Where the _heck_ did you get _that?!_ "

Tails followed his brother's finger to the workbench before them, upon which sat a familiar stuffed, twin-tailed orange figure - the creepy doll-bot he had retrieved from Robotnik's final evil base.

"Oh... that..." Tails muttered, reaching over to grab hold of the thing with both hands. It felt heavier than it had before, though he put that down to his fatigue. "Yeah, real creepy huh? I found it in Robotnik's base. He was holding it when... well, when I found him..."

"Oh..." Sonic replied, leaning close to look into the things vacantly smiling face and dead eyes, "what the heck _is_ it?"

The hedgehog recoiled in shock as the doll leaned its head toward him, blinked, and replied in that familiar childinsh sing-song voice. _"Hi! I'm Tails Doll! Special Eggman Unit zero zero… zero! Awaiting directives! Haha!"_

"Dude..." Sonic said, leaning away from the creepy little thing, "That is just... _wrong..._ "

"Tell me about it..." replied Tails, setting the doll back down on the workbench, where it twitched momentarily before slumping lifelessly once more. "Eggman must have been off of his nuts when he made this thing..."

"Why did you think it was a good idea bringing that thing back?" Sonic said, inspecting the doll from afar.

"Dude, seriously?!" Tails replied, as though it was the dumbest question the hedgehog had ever asked, "Sonic, _look_ at the thing! Eggman literally built, like... a robotic _voodoo doll_ of me or something! I had to bring it back, find out why it was made, what Robotnik built it for... _why_ it exists at all! Would you be able to sleep at night not knowing these things if it were a doll of you?!"

"Yeah, buddy!" Sonic shot back, looking at his brother as though he were nuts, "I could quite happily burn the thing and leave it at that!"

"Yeah, well. _Some of us_ actually _like_ the pursuit of knowledge, Sonic!"

"Well, good luck with that, buddy..." the hedgehog replied, eyeing the doll one last time as he backed away, "I'm gonna go get some sleep... don't be too late, okay?" The hedgehog nudged his brother on the arm, and wore a tired grin. "And don't think I hate you... I know you had no choice, okay?"

Tails lowered his head, glaring through his own shoes as his ears drooped, "You would have found a way..." the fox muttered, "I'm a killer, Sonic... I don't want to be a killer..."

"Dude, come here..."

Sonic reached out and embraced his brother, hugging him tight as the fox burst into tears. Tails sobbed heavily for a long time, his older brother's fur becoming wet with tears as Miles buried his face into his chest, slowly stroking the back of his brother's head.

"Hey, dude... it's okay..." Sonic said when Tails had begun to calm himself down, "You did what you had to, okay? Nobody's ever going to judge you for it..."

"I will..." tails sniffled, wiping his nose on the back of his hand.

"Do you need me to sleep with you tonight?" Sonic said carefully, "keep you some company?"

Tails shook his head, swallowing his nerves. "No, Sonic. I'm not a little kid any more. I can cope. One way or another, I'll cope."

"Okay, buddy... whatever you need," Sonic said. He gestured toward the orange doll sitting on the nearby workbench. "Just, uh... watch your back, okay? For spooky dolls?"

Tails snorted and rolled his eyes. "It's a _robot,_ Sonic. A _mindless_ robot. Not a possessed toy. I'm _rational_ , remember?"

"Okay then, mister rational..." Sonic gave his brother's shoulder a final squeeze and made to leave the workshop, "Don't stay up too late, okay? Don't let me catch you up at four am again, futzing around with whatever sci-fi techno mumbo-jumbo you have going on right now!"

"Sure, Sonic..." Tails replied wearily, "Will do..."

"That's my bro!" Sonic said, turning to leave the workshop. "And Tails?"

"Yeah Sonic?"

"Love ya, little buddy... don't ever think otherwise."

Tails shrank a little and nodded, not meeting Sonic's eyes. "Okay... thanks Sonic..."

Sonic did his best to wear a supportive smile, before turning and heading for bed.

He couldn't help but feel like that creepy doll was _watching_ him as he left.

.............................................................

"Tails? Are you awake?"

Amy Rose couldn't sleep. She'd tried. The spare bed at Sonic and Tails' house was too hard, too squeaky, too rough. Oh, and her friends were going through some hard times right now, with Tails having killed Robotnik and all. She couldn't escape the nagging feeling that she could be doing more to help her small friend out at this time.

It was only nine at night. Tails would almost certainly still be awake.

So it was the pink hedgehog found herself, in slippers and gown, carrying two mugs of hot chocolate toward Tails' workshop, doing her best not to spill the hot, sugary drinks. Tails would probably not be up for much talking, but she had to at least show him he was cared for at this time.

"Tails?" Amy called, stepping carefully through the dimly lit workshop, "I've brought you something to drink..."

Amy's heart almost melted as she found, slumped over his workstation with head resting in arms, tails wrapped around himself, her fuzzy orange friend slept soundly before his computers. A tv flickered nearby, several minutes through a report on the death of Doctor Robotnik.

"Tails?" Amy whispered as she quietly approached the slumbering fox. An orange ear twitched, but he otherwise remained utterly comatose. No wonder. He had barely slept these last couple of nights. Amy wondered if she would be able to as well. She had never... killed before, either. 

She understood. Tails had said, in his after-action report, that he'd thought Sonic dead from Robotnik's attacks... the cruel Doctor taking ravenous glee in the apparent destruction of his greatest enemy. It had pushed Tails a little too far, and the fox had set his blaster from stun.. to kill. Cue several unexpected shots to the body later, and Robotnik had been found dead in his lab. His reign of tyranny over.

Maybe it was for the best. Maybe somebody should have offed Eggman a long time ago... but it was a horrible shame it had to have been their youngest comrade to take that final step.

Amy sighed, setting a mug of hot chocolate down beside her sleeping friend. When he came round, he could warm it up himself. 

Amy made to take a sip of her own hot chocolate... and almost jumped out of her skin as something clattered in the workshop behind her.

She hissed as she spilled warm fluid down her gown, turning with ears perked to scan the dim workshop. She strained her hearing as she quietly stepped forward, thinking she could hear _someone_ back there muttering... 

There were clicks and clacks, like somebody rummaging through a tray of cutlery, and Amy fought herself from calling out. There was only Sonic, Tails, and herself in the building right now... and Sonic was fast asleep in bed. 

She gripped her hot chocolate tight, ready to throw the steaming liquid into the face of any intruders that might have entered the workshop. Tails had a lot of valuable technology and equipment stowed away in his workshop. It wasn't the first time somebody had tried to rob the young engineer.

She heard it again. A small voice, like a child's, mumbling as small clicks sounded from a storage room beyond. Amy grabbed a nearby hammer in her free hand and, armed with boiling liquid and a blunt weapon, rested her back against the wall beside the open door. Her heart pounded in her chest and her ears strained, picking up more of the small voice.

_"No... no good... this won't do... won't do at all..."_

Amy winced as something else fell to the floor, accompanied by a small, startled squeak.

_"Nng!! Stupid... stupid stupid stupid… why doesn't that blasted canine have anything I can use... I'll kill him for this... kill him good..."_

That was it. Hesitating no longer, Amy swung into the room and prepared to give their intruder a facefull of boiling hot chocolate and a whack with her hammer to boot.

"Okay, buster! Whoever you are you'd better give up now or you'll have to deal with... me...

The pink hedgehog trailed off and gawped, unable to process what she was looking at. A pair of furiously glowing eyes glared at her from above a wide, smiling face, their owner busily sorting through a box of Tails' tools.

The smile vanished and was replaced with a mouthful of jagged teeth, and Amy Rose dropped her hot chocolate as the intruder unleashed a spine chilling hiss... and lunged for her across the storage room.

Her body hit the floor with a thump, and she moved no more.

......................................................

"Jeez, Tails..." said Sonic, as his brother worked on the comatose Amy, "Who could have _done_ this?"

Tails raised his goggles and sighed, leaning up from his work. He had done what he could for the pink hedgehog, but she was out cold. For how long, he didn't know. He'd checked her vitals and she was weak... but would recover.

What worried him most was the deep slashes across her face, as though some kind of animal had attacked her with vicious claws.

"I think..." Tails replied, wiping sweat from his brow, "it's more a question of _what_ did this rather than _who_ …"

"Either way... I've never seen claw marks like _that_ " Sonic said, swallowing a lump in his throat at the sight of his comatose friend, "They look like _fingernails..._ are we sure this is just an animal we're talking about?"

"I _don't know_ , Sonic..." Tails said as he ripped off his goggles, ruffling his head fur. The young fox was exhausted, and operating at his limits thanks to their recent events. "I've checked the injuries, there's no sign of infection or anything... she just seems _drained_ , as though something tried to sap all of her Chaos energy... luckily, as far as I can tell, she'll make a full recovery."

Sonic hummed as he stroked his friend's hand. There was nothing romantic between the two hedgehogs, but Sonic cared for his friends deeply. The blue hedgehog frowned as he gestured at Amy's magenta gown. "What's this?" He said, indicating the dark stains all down Amy's clothes, "Is that... blood?"

Tails shook his head. "Hot chocolate. She brought me some. Looks like she spilled her own all over the place when the... whatever it was, attacked her. Heck of a mess back there."

"Okay..." Sonic breathed, "Okay... so what do we do now?"

"Well, I'm going to check my 'shop security systems. If somebody or something got in without me knowing… that's a problem that needs to be addressed. Might be able to find a few more clues as to our little intruder while I'm at it."

"What, you think this is _Investigation Station Square?_ "

"I mean it, Sonic." Tails said, fixing his brother with a glare, "I don't want this happening again. I don't want my _friends_ being... hurt, just because I was too stupid to think of everything."

"You want me to come with?"

"Nah, just take care of Amy. I don't need any distractions while I'm at it."

Sonic huffed. "Well, nice to see you think of me as a distraction..."

...................................................................

Tails shoved his hands into his overalls pockets as he entered the workshop, the dim lights flickering on into a musky orange glow.

He was angry. If he hadn't been asleep, if he'd checked his security systems more often... fortunately, Amy was alive. 

Miles padded through the workshop in his usual red and white sneakers, screwing his eyes in the dim light. The bulbs were running low. Another thing he'd put on his to-do list that he still hadn't gotten around to fixing. 

At least without Robotnik around, he now had plenty of time for that.

_Killer._

Miles tried to bury the horrible, sick feeling in his stomach at the thought of the word. He didn't feel bad for Eggman's sake... the evil old bastard had had it coming too damn long, but why did it have to be _him?_ Of all people, of everyone who had ever fought against the tyrant, it had to be a young fox-child to deliver Robotnik's final death blow.

_You tried to save him, though... could have saved him, if he'd let you..._

As if that made him any better.

Tails took a deep breath and tried to still his suddenly beating heart, stop the tears forming in his eyes. What was done was done. Robotnik had been a violent, evil maniac, with more than enough blood on his hands, and had got what he deserved in the end. That's all there was to it.

That had to be all there was to it.

Tails shook himself back to reality, forcing himself to remain focused on the task at hand. He had work to do.

The young fox entered the storage room where he had found Amy's comatose body. He remembered the blind terror he had felt when he thought she was dead... and the immense relief that followed when he checked her vitals and found a pulse. He hadn't had time to look around, he'd simply called for Sonic and together the two brothers had carried her to her bed where Tails could steady her.

Now he had time to investigate.

He flicked on the storage room light, again the old bulb offering not much but a dim glow.

Hmm. The first thing he noticed was the far shelves, around which lay scattered tools. Now Tails could be disorganised, but he wasn't in the habit of leaving his tools lying around on the _floor_ , where a spanner and screwdriver now lay. Something, or _somebody_ had to have been rifling through his toolkit. For what purpose, he didn't know.

Then the fox took a step back, remembering the hot chocolate stain on the floor. It had mostly dried by now, but he could still smell the remnants of the sugary drink. Hot chocolate. Amy had been bringing him hot chocolate. She'd worried about him, and in her concern she could have lost her life. His fault, again.

The kit frowned in his melancholy however, as he spotted something... off. Something that caught his interest. He leaned in closer to find...

Shoeprints. Small and faded, but definitely there. Shoeprints that faded away as they led toward the door and out of the storage room. He hadn't noticed that before. Too preoccupied.

His heart beat in the back of his throat as he recognised the shape and the pattern. He looked at his own red and white sneakers, dreading the thoughts that ran through his head... and felt a wave of relief as he found his own feet were far larger than the small prints on the floor of his workshop.

Phew. So he hadn't attacked Amy in some kind of sleep-walking state. That was a relief. He didn't need _more_ guilt on his conscience.

But if it hadn't been him, then...

His fur stood on end as a horrible chill ran through him.

The fox hopped to his feet and stormed into his workshop, where his tv set still flickered. He moved with intent toward the opposite workbench, where the 'Tails doll' remained, sat facing the tv.

Tails grabbed the doll in one hand, checking the thing's feet. Sure enough, right on the bottom of the red and white shoes... brown stains. He took a sniff. _Hot chocolate._

"You little..." Tails hissed, almost tearing the thing apart right there. He took pause however, his curiosity getting the better of him, and instead held the thing in both hands as he glared into the lifeless face. He swallowed a lump in his throat.

"Talk." He commanded, glaring into the eyes.

The thing blinked. _"Hi! I'm the Tails Doll! Robotnik… specialised unit zero zero one! Please await directives!"_

Tails felt a horrible tingle of terror run down his back. "That's not what you've said before..." the fox said through grit teeth. He stared into the stupid, smiling face, looking for any signs of life from the facsimile of himself, finding nothing. He briefly regarded the crystal at the end of the antenna, which remained dim. 

"Well..." he continued, hefting the thing in both hands, "I think it's about time..." he now headed over to a workbench, where several of his tools lay. He slammed the doll down on its rump, leaving it in a sitting position, and grabbed a nearby hand saw. "...I opened you up and took a look inside... what do you think-"

Tails had no time to react as, with no warning and with terrifying spontaneity, the doll's lifeless face became a vicious, enraged scowl, and the thing launched itself directly at him.

_"YOU BASTARD!!"_

Tails screamed as the thing began beating at him with its mitts, screeching into his face, the eyes glowing a fearsome red.

"I'LL KILL YOU, TAILS!!! I'll KILL YOU YOU LITTLE SHI-"

Tails finally responded by grabbing the suddenly _very_ animated doll beneath the armpits and tearing it from his head, lobbing it across the workshop into a stack of spare parts.

Tails stumbled backward, eyes bulging as he watched the doll right itself, glaring at him with those evil red eyes as it raised its fingerless paws... and steel claws emerged from beneath the stuffing, flexing hungrily. The smiling face widened into a leer, revealing viciously sharp teeth.

"What..?!" Tails managed to sputter, "What the..."

"TAILS?!?"

The doll before him appeared to tense at the sound of Sonic's voice echoing through the workshop, and it pointed at him with a steel claw.

"I'll be back for you, _Tails!!!_ "

Tails could only watch as the doll scampered over the mess of parts and tools and vanished, the only evidence of its existence the pattering of small feet and hands as it hurried away on all fours.

"TAILS!!"

Tails leaned himself against a workbench, feeling at the wounds on his face as Sonic shot to his side, just staring at the space where the so-called 'Tails Doll' had been.

"Jeez, dude!!! What the heck's going on down here?!" Sonic grabbed his brother by the shoulders and tried to turn him, "Crap, what happened to your _face?!_ "

Tails' mouth flapped open as he tried to explain. "It... it was the doll! It was the doll, Sonic!!" 

............……...…...….........……......…....

Doctor Starline, former friend and apprentice of Doctor Robotnik, read the newspaper for the hundredth time that day. The platypus adjusted his spectacles and sipped at his tea as he scanned the main story.

Hmm. Hard to believe the old bugger was dead.

Starline remembered working under Robotnik, the hopes and the dreams they had shared of ruling this world... that had been a time ago now. 

Starline finished his drink and set the mug down along with the paper. He adjusted his maroon gown around himself. Perhaps tonight called for a spot of something stronger. The platypus turned and marched solemnly toward his kitchen, deep in his own hidden lair, his base of operations far smaller and humbler than Robotnik's had always been. He retrieved a bottle of brandy from an overhead cupboard, set a squat glass on the side. He poured himself a couple of fingers' worth and raised the glass.

"Here's to you, Ivo..." the platypus said, "You crazy old fool..."

"Hey, doc! Gonna save some of that for me?!"

Starline almost choked on the brandy as he knocked it back, his attention diverted by the small, childlike voice nearby. He sputtered and coughed, his eyes watering and sinuses burning, steadying himself on the kitchen counter.

"Woah, I guess alcohol really _is_ bad for you!"

There it was again that mocking, childish tone. Starline wiped at his eyes with a handkerchief, scanning his kitchen, eyes finally focusing on...

Something that made him recoil backwards in shock.

There, stood on his kitchen counter... what appeared at first sight to be a stuffed version of Miles Prower, the wretched brother of Sonic the Hedgehog. But this... _fox_ was smaller, plush skin stitched together, eyes glowing red above an eerie shark-toothed leer of a smile. A single antenna wavered between the thing's pointed ears, some kind of gem at the end glowing the same red as the eyes.

"Hi, doc!" The thing waved at him with a fingerless mitt, speaking in that bone-chilling, sing-song giggle, "Long time no see!!"

The doctor flapped his mouth in shock. "Wh... what _are_ you?!"

"Hahaha! I think the better question..." the thing giggled as it set itself down on his counter, legs swinging over the side and tails swishing happily, "Is _who_ am I?"

The doctor regarded the doll with fascination, moving closer to it despite himself. "What... do you _mean_ , my curious little friend?"

"Little? HAHAHA! LITTLE!!!" The thing released a demented cackle, causing Starline to take pause. "I remember when _you_ were the little guy!! When we worked together? To rule _the world?!?"_

The doctor remained silent as he calculated, thoughts running through his brain. "No..." he muttered, looking into those evil eyes for any semblance of identity, "It can't be..." 

"Come on, doc! I thought you smart! I thought you were reeeeeeeaaaaaaal smart!!!" The doll spread its arms wide, like a child exaggerating the size of an object, before leaning forward and revealing sharp teeth. "But are you smart enough... to cheat _death?!_ " 

Starline's jaw flapped as he dared to make a guess. "....... _Ivo???_ " 

"BING BING BING!! We have a WINNER!!!" The doll hopped from the counter toward Starline... and hovered in the air before him, clapping its stubby hands together, lower limbs dangling limply as it levitated. 

The doctor shook his head in disbelief. "It can't be..." Starline said again, eyeing the doll with bulging eyes, "It's... not possible..." 

"Oh, well, gee doc..." The doll replied, setting one 'hand' on its hips and gesturing impatiently, "Why don't you, I dunno, _scan_ me? My Chaos signature should be identical to that of my old body!!" 

Starline did as he was instructed, retrieving an appropriate device from his lab and scanning the curious little doll. He found, to his shock and disbelief, that the doll was correct. Somehow, some way... the late Doctor Robotnik had transferred his life force, his energy, his _soul _, into this strange little machine fashioned like a stuffed toy.__

____

"This is unprecedented..." the doctor mumbled, checking his readings again, "This is... astounding..." 

____

"Well, _duh..._ " the doll... _Robotnik_ mocked childishly, hovering over and setting himself on Starline's shoulder like a parrot, "Supergenius here and all?!"

____

"But... how?" The platypus said, leaning back to regard his old friend's new form in astonishment, "How did you _do_ it?!" 

____

"Oooh, story-time!!!" Robotnik clapped his mitts again and hovered into the air, lower limbs trailing like those of a flying insect. He set himself down on a nearby table and flopped into a sitting position, reaching out to grab a nearby bottle of whiskey. "You see doc, I made this _thing_ …" he patted at his own outer wrapping of stuffing "When I was rather... 'off my trolley', you might say. It was designed to be deceptively _cute_ and _cuddly_ … lure people in, and then SUCK the life out of them!! Like apple juice!!!" 

____

Robotnik popped the bottle cap off and peered inside with one glowing red eye.

____

"And then that little brat Tails went and SHOT me!! Shot me dead!!! BANG BANG BANG!!!!" Robotnik spread his small arms theatrically, the evil shark-toothed leer on the doll's face stretching further. "And I was dying!! Then I spotted this thing and, well... a little ingenuity, a little reprogramming, a little connecting of my neural implants, and... TA-DA!!!! My body might be dead, but _I_ live on!!!! Pretty cool, huh?!"

____

Starline winced as the doll discarded the bottle of whiskey, the bottle wobbling dangerously close to the edge of the table. "Would..." The doctor said, hurrying over to prevent his highly expensive whiskey from coating the floor, "Would you like a drink, Doctor?"

____

"Ha! I don't have a digestive system, silly!!! It's aaaaalllllllll machine in here!!! For now, at least..."

____

"Oh... Starline replied, raising an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"

____

"Well, you see doc..." Robotnik hopped to his feet and wandered over the table, carelessly shoving past expensive ornaments and bottles of liquor, "I altered the chaos-sapping abilities of this body before I transferred... I _should_ be able to transfer my essence back _into_ another living host just by making appropriate physical contact!! Like MAGIC!!!" 

____

The doll, inhabited by Robotnik, became disinterested in his surroundings and turned back to face Starline. "I tried to do it already!! With the Amy girl!!! But I can't! I succeeded in draining her and rendering her unconscious, but I couldn't swap over!!! And you wanna know something else?"

____

Starline nodded. "What's that, Ivo?"

____

The doll grinned wider and turned around. " _This!!!"_ "

____

Starline adjusted his spectacles and leaned in close... astonished to find a long, bleeding cut running across the doll's back, surrounded by bruising.

____

"I... don't understand..." The platypus mumbled.

____

"Oh, don't you?! Well how about I explain!!" Robotnik spun back around and again patted at his padded torso. "How many robots, or dolls, or whatever, do you know that _bleed?!_ That happened when the Prower brat threw me into a stack of spare bits and pieces! And you know what, Starline? It _hurt!_ It hurt like a son of a bitch!!!"

____

Starline hummed, raising his device and gesturing to the doll. "Please turn around so I can get a look at the... wound..."

____

Robotnik did as he was asked, continuing to rant. "So you see, doc, I don't plan on spending the rest of my life like this. So I need _your_ help, as the next best robotics expert in the whole wide world, to find out what's going on and help me transfer into a new body!! Understand?"

____

Starline looked at the information presented in his data pad, and shook his head incredulously. "Ivo..." he said carefully, "I... might be a genius _robotics_ expert... but _this..._ " He removed his spectacles and gestured to the small orange form that Robotnik's _soul_ now inhabited, "What you've done... is absolutely unprecedented. With a _lifetime_ of study and preparation... I doubt I would be able to replicate what you have achieved with whatever you had to hand on your _deathbed!_ "

____

The doll cocked its head and blinked, the eyes penetrating Starline like daggers. "Are you telling me..." Robotnik said quietly, "that you can't fix me?"

____

"Doctor, look at the scans!!!" Starline, losing his nerves, raised his data pad to face the doll and gestured to the information with a hand, "Your chaos energy, your life force, whatever you want to call it, is _merging_ with your new form! You're becoming flesh and blood again!! My hypothesis is that you can't transfer your soul, because your spiritual connection to your body is becoming too strong!!" Starline lowered his data pad and fumbled with his spectacles, the eyewear dangling loosely around his neck on their chain. "Ivo..." the platypus said sadly, adjusting his head fur, "There's nothing I can do... I believe you are to be bound to this form for as long as your essence may live. You are welcome to stay here of course, I would appreciate the chance to study-"

____

_"YOU STUPID USELESS FOOOOOOL!!!!!!!"_

____

Starline was cut off as the doll, blind with rage, lunged at him with a hiss and began slashing at his face with steel claws, tearing with vicious teeth, ripping and shredding the platypus's head and face and throat and chest. Starline gurgled as he died, scrambling for anything he could use to desperately tear the doll away from his face... until he slammed backwards to the ground, still twitching, blood running into dark red pools around his body. 

____

"I... am NOT..." Robotnik, steel claws clenched, teeth bared and eyes burning red, stood atop the dead Doctor Starline, seemingly breathing heavily despite his current lack of lungs, "Spending the rest of my days as a stuffed. Little. FREAK!!!" 

____

He considered the now dead doctor, the platypus missing a substantial amount of his flesh above the chest.

____

"Hmm..." Robotnik rubbed at his chin with steel claws, "Probably should have kept you alive! Then I could have used you as a test subject to switch back!! I'm really, really silly somet-ACK!!!"

____

The doll doubled over, clutching its chest, and the wound on its back began to bleed more profusely. And as he kneeled on the chest of the expired Starline, Robotnik felt flesh and veins ripple into being across his body, replacing the stuffing that surrounded the metal endoskeleton.

____

Then he felt a single, sudden pump of a heartbeat.

____

"I... have to get out of this body..." he whispered to himself, staring at the steel fingers poking from his mitts, "Before it's too late..."

____


	2. Chapter 2

"I'm telling you, Sonic..." Tails said, as he dabbed at the bruises over his face with a wet cloth, "It was the doll! It attacked Amy, and it tried to kill me!!"

"Tails..." Sonic sighed and set himself across from his brother, both males occupying separate chairs in the kitchen. "Think about what you're saying... a _killer. Doll._ You know how that _sounds?_ "

"Don't..." Tails raised a finger and pointed to the hedgehog, "Even start with the 'Tails is crazy' bs. After _all_ the weird crap Eggman built throughout the years, do you really think _this_ is beyond reason!?"

Sonic leaned back in his chair and rubbed his chin. "You're right, Tails..." the hedgehog relented, "Eggman is... well, _was_ , a crazy old coot. But why a killer _doll?!_ And why make it to look like _you_ specifically?"

Tails shook his head. "I dunno…" he muttered, dabbing at the bruises on his face. The doll had hit him with far more force than a being of its size should have been able to exert. "Some kind of last-minute revenge device? To take one of us out in the event we finally got him?"

Sonic shrugged. "I dunno, little buddy... it had plenty of opportunities to go for you before it did... and why attack Amy if it was after you?"

"Collateral, maybe?" Tails suggested. "I don't know, Sonic. All I know is that thing is dangerous, and it said it was coming back... for _me..."_

Sonic swallowed, and nodded. "Then it looks like we're gonna have to stay on our toes. Right, little buddy?"

"Yeah..." Tails replied, fiddling with his tails nervously, "Yeah, right..."

.............................................................

Sonic took first watch, while Tails holed himself up in his room checking his security systems. If there really was a killer doll on the loose, and it was coming back for Tails... Sonic was the best bet to catch the little bastard, being super-fast and all. He meandered through the shared home of him and his brother, pausing to check on Amy as she slept peacefully.

"Well Ames..." he chuckled, "We're waiting for an attack by a killer doll... crazy times, huh?" She didn't respond, her chest simply rising and falling. Sonic looked her over, wishing he'd been there to protect her when she'd been attacked. Been there to protect _Tails._

"It should've been me, Amy..." he went on, rubbing his tired eyes, "It should've been me who got Eggman… not Tails. He's just a kid Ames, too young to be taking life like that... even if Robotnik had it coming for too damn long... I should have done him in when it was obvious he was never going to stop, nobody would have blamed me... but I didn't, and Tails had to do it instead. Does that make me a hero... or a coward?"

Amy had no answer for him, remaining unconscious on her bed.

Sonic shook his head in resignation. "Never mind..." He said, backing out of the room, leaving on last look at his friend, "Sleep tight, Ames. Get well soon."

_"Sonic?"_

Sonic's ears perked as he thought he heard Tails calling from somewhere within the house. He frowned. Tails should have been in his workstation still, checking the security systems. He couldn't have finished this early... could he?

"Tails?" Sonic called, moving down the hall with his ears pricked, "You finished, buddy?"

_"What? Oh, yeah, I just... need some help moving something!"_

Sonic frowned. There was something... off about Tails' voice... but he couldn't be sure. He headed in anyway, keeping his guard up for any troublesome little dolls.

"Buddy?" Sonic called out, edging into the kitchen, "You there?"

_"BATTER UP, HEDGEHOG!!!!"_

Sonic barely had time to react as _something_ orange and airborne lunged from the ceiling corner, ducking into a roll as the plaster shattered from the wall where his head had been, unfurling and landing easily on his feet. He turned around, and again had to duck out of the way as his assailant charged him again, screeching and wielding a baseball bat in its mitts.

"WOAH!!"

Sonic ducked again and raised a forearm... and screamed as the bat made contact, shattering the bone.

"HA!! HAHAHA!!!" The freaking _doll_ , floating in the air via some unknown means, leered at him with madly glowing eyes and a mouthful of vicious teeth, the bat comically large in its small hands, "STRIKE!!!!"

Sonic's mouth flapped and his teeth grit at the pain of his broken forelimb, eyes bulging as he watched the floating doll heft its bat again.

"What the HECK, dude?!"

"SHUT UP AND STAY STILL!!!"

The doll boosted forward again, far faster than Sonic had been expecting, and he again dived and rolled, returning to his feet, searching for a weapon to defend himself with.

The doll screeched at him with a distorted, childish voice. "Stay still so I can KNOCK YOU OUT, YOU JERK!!!"

"Yeah, not gonna happen little dude!!"

Sonic, despite the pain in his arm, lunged across the kitchen toward the sink, narrowly dodging a swipe of the bat as he moved. The doll snarled in frustration, swinging itself off-balance with the attack. Sonic wrapped his good hand around a plate, and threw it like a frisbee toward the thing.

The doll squeaked in pain as the plate smacked it in the face, tumbling to the floor in a mess of limbs. Sonic stumbled and fell, the pain in his arm blinding him momentarily, sparks dancing in his vision as he again scanned for the evil little thing. It didn't hang around long, scampering out of the kitchen like a fleeing rat, something shiny in its paws.

Sonic took a moment to collect himself, before furrowing his brow and grabbing the bat from the kitchen floor. "Oh no you don't, you little creep..."

The hedgehog trotted through the door where the doll had escaped, moving down the hall in pursuit. He kept his eyes and ears peeled, blinking his vision clear as best he could. The thing could be anywhere by now, what with its small size and flight capabilities.

He kept himself low as he crept through the hall, his right hand clasped around the bat, ready for any sign of the-

_"THAT'S IT!!!"_

Despite his speed, Sonic barely had time to react as the thing jumped him from the ceiling lightshade, slashing at him with a kitchen knife. 

Sonic jerked backward, swinging with the bat and missing... and dropping the weapon as the doll slashed him across the arm. He shrieked with the sudden, sharp pain, and desperately tried to defend himself as the doll slashed at his face, snarling with each swipe. 

"THIS... IS... FOR EVERY... TIME... YOU RUINED... MY PLANS... YOU BIG... BLUE... BULLY!!!!!"

Sonic, too busy frantically trying to guard his face, finally tripped and fell as he stumbled backward, slamming into the floor... and wheezed as he felt a horrific, sharp pain in his chest. Moments passed, the hedgehog breathing shallow... until he craned his head down, finding the knife jutting from his upper torso. The doll kneeled on his chest, on hands and knees, glaring at him with its glowing red eyes, jagged teeth lining its wicked grin.

"Haha... hahaha..."

The doll giggled to itself, as though highly amused, metal claws extending and pointing at the hedgehog with glee.

"Looks like I finally got you, Sonic!!" The thing cackled, "I FINALLY GOT YOU, YOU INFERNAL BLUE HEDGEHOG!!!!!! AFTER ALL THESE YEARS!!!"

Sonic didn't have time to wonder what the creature was talking about as it wrapped its metal claws around his chest, opened its jagged maw improbably wide, and the life force was slowly drained from his body.

……..........................................................

Robotnik growled to himself as he hopped from the unconscious hedgehog's limp form. He looked over the knife he'd retrieved from the kitchen before beating his retreat. Stupid. Now the hedgehog's body was dying. Which made it useless.

He giggled, unable to control the... childish and mischievous emotions that seemingly came with being a killer doll.

"Heh... hehehe! I should probably stop killing my potential hosts!" The doll cackled to itself, wiping the blood from its claws onto the hallway carpet. Then the ungodly thing gasped, as the stuffing surrounding its face rippled and warped... and fresh pain hit Robotnik. He raised a clawed mitt to his face, feeling swelling... and blood.

"I... need to find someone..." The former doctor muttered, realisation at his predicament bringing him some momentary lucidity, "I need to FIND someone!!!"

"Sonic?"

The doll stilled, plush ears perking at the sound of... his _killer._

"Sonic, you okay?" Tails' voice called from around the corner, "I heard noises!"

Robotnik, trapped in the stuffed monstrosity he had created during an insane bout of creation, wore a wide, malicious grin on the plush face of the 'Tails Doll', as he had named himself. 

He had, at least, absorbed enough life force... he felt stronger... he was sure he could transfer now... if he was quick.

With a silent cackle, the doll wrapped its paws around the discarded bat, hovered into the air, and waited for the larger form of Miles Prower to pass beneath.

"Sonic?" Tails jogged down the hallway, concern rising at his brother's lack of response. Sonic couldn't have fallen asleep with their predicament, and with the noises he had just heard? Tails' heart was in his mouth, terror gripping his chest, until he rounded the corner and found...

Sonic, unconscious on the floor... a kitchen knife sticking right out of his chest.

"SONIC!!!!!" Tails scrambled over to the limp form of his brother, and fought to control his panic as he noted several slashing wounds over the hedgehog's arms. His left arm was swollen, and Tails made sure not to touch it. "Jeez... it's okay, Sonic... I'll call someone... you'll be o-"

Tails didn;t get to finish his statement as something swooped down behind him, cracked him around the back of the head, and turned his world dark.

..........................................................

_"Hehehe... yes... a little bit of this and a little bit of that..._

Miles' world was pain. He was aware that he was slowly regaining conscious, a splitting pain wracking his head, intense nausea roiling his entire body.

 _"...And slip it in... and one roused brat!!!"_ The distant, giggling voice cackled, the voice echoing through Miles' skull. "Wakey wakey, _Tails!!!!"_

Miles was aware that he was being smacked around the cheeks, and he blinked as his vision slowly began to return. The world was blurry, filled with stars... and intruded by the red-eyed, leering visage of the Tails Doll, leaning in close to Miles' face.

"Hahaha!! Hi, Tails!!!!!" the thing cackled, toothy mouth grinning wide, pinching Miles' cheek with one clawed mitt and an empty syringe clutched in the other. "You sleep _reeeeaaaaaal_ heavy!!! Had to wake you!! Lazybones! HA!!"

"Whu… whu's ha'nin…" Miles managed to slur, his head lolling as he attempted to bring himself round. The pain in his skull was unbearable. He tasted copper in his mouth. He tried to move, finding that he was tied up to a chair in his workshop's medical bay. "S... S'nic???"

"Ha! HAHAHAHAHA!!!!" The doll hovered from its position on Tails' knees, casually discarding the empty syringe over one shoulder. "I wouldn't worry about that bothersome blue _booger!!!!_ " The little monstrous creature hovered around the workbenches, selecting tools, turning back to Tails and glaring at him with that evil, mischievous little face. "I stabilized him!!! Made him BETTER!!!!! His body might still be of use to me, even in its damaged state..." The doll set itself down on a workbench, kicking its legs as it sat over the edge, "I might be a little _different_ now, but I am a _doctor_ after all!!!"

Miles ceased struggling against his bindings and froze. His eyes bulged as he looked over the grinning, bloody eyed creature sat on his workbench. He remembered the doctor's body, computer implants hooked up to the still form of the little thing... and he only now noticed the doll's two-sided face - one soft and plush, the other fleshy. and bruised.

"No..." he muttered, "You gotta be kidding me..."

The doll giggled maliciously and levitated over to his bound form, setting itself on his knees again like a child waiting for a story. "I wanna play a game, _Tails!!!!_ " it cackled, "I wanna play... Guess Who!!!" It hopped onto its feet, twin tails slashing, gesturing with its arms as though playing charades. "Who has a biiiiiig old belly..." It gestured around its half-fleshy torso with both paws, "And a CRAZY moustache..." again, it reached up and spread the mitts over its face, before leaning in close to Miles', the black button nose almost touching his. "And who..." it hissed maliciously, "Did you _shoot_ , Miles? Who did you _murder?!_ "

Miles leaned as far back in his chair as he could, eyes bulging as the doll leered at him with vicious teeth and slit, glowing red eyes. "How???" He finally managed, "How did you..."

"INGENUITY, MILES!!!!!" The doll gripped the edges of his white muzzle and screamed in his face, spittle pattering out in little droplets, "And an INSATIABLE WILL TO LIVE!!!!!" The doll smacked him again with a clawed mitt, drawing blood, far harder than it reasonably could given its small form. It left his body once again, hovering over to somewhere at Miles' left.

"What... do you want from me?" Miles stammered, straining his head around to find the doll tinkering with some strange, mish-mash device. It fumbled with a clutch of cables, and Miles couldn't help but notice a vicious, bleeding gash across its small back. The stitched _flesh_ of its small back.

The young engineer couldn't help his curiosity at the sight. "What's... happening to you?!"

"HAHAHAHAHA!!!!" The doll... _the Doctor_ , turned and giggled at him, cables in both paws, "I'm glad you asked, Miles!!! You see..." It levitated again, lower limbs trailing limply, landing on the arm of Miles' chair. "I have certain... _abilities_ in this form! I can sap others' Chaos energy... not enough to kill them, but enough to sustain my own life!! And I can theoretically transfer my own life force back into an organic host... I just need to be strong enough to do so!!!! And with a little technological assistance..." It gestured back to the hastily assembled machine behind it, before whispering conspiratorially in Miles' ear. "Do you want to know a secret??? I was planning on _killing_ you, Miles... one way or another, I was gonna cut you up one piece at a time!!!" Its face slowly split into a malicious grin, the eyes glowing bright, "But you know what will be sweeter? When I transfer into your body... you will take my place in this one!! And while it would be quite satisfying to squish you like a little bug, I think I'll keep you around!! Put you in a cage, a really _small_ one!!!! You'll make a fine conversation piece when I finally get my evil plans back in line!! Don't you think???"

Miles simply stared at the thing, considering the fate Robotnik held in store for him. 

"Heeheehee!! I called myself 'Tails Doll' because you got me on the spot!! But you know what??? _You'll_ be the doll, Tails!!! The real Tails Doll!!! Isn't that so wonderfully delicious?!?"

"You're... insane..." Miles muttered in response.

"Ha! Haha!!" The doll leaned forward, the glowing red crystal on the end of its antenna glowing hot, "You'd be a little crazy too, if you died and woke up as a murderous plaything!!!!" It leered into his face for another moment, before moving away again to check on its machine. "Still, I don't suppose you'll have to imagine for much longer... you can find out for yourself!!!!"

While the thing's back was turned, Tails made his move. He had noticed, during the doll's monologuing, that his twin tails had been left unbound. A _very_ big mistake, on the doctor's part.

He reached around with one of the dexterous limbs, and began fiddling at his right wrist binding. He had checked when the doll had been tinkering with its machine, and the right wrist had been more loosely tied. He began to fiddle with the bindings with the end of his tail, tugging, worming the end into the loosening threads...

"Anyway..." the doll snickered as it turned back to face him, now clutching its cables in one mitt, a small knife in the other, "This is going to hurt quite a bit... and it's all a little crude and improbably planned out..." The evil grin stretched wider, sharks' teeth glistening, "But don't worry!!" it giggled, "I'm a doctor!!!"

Tails began to panic, and hissed with pain as the doll made an incision on his left arm with the knife, inserting the cables into his flesh. It did the same with its own arm, slicing into the stuffing-skin and working the other set of cables within.

His tail desperately worked the loosening threads of his bindings.

"Well, Tails..." The doll said cheerfully, "I guess it's time we see if our little experiment works!!!! What do you say, my... _little friend?!?_ "

With a wave of relief, Tails right hand bindings came loose.

And with a spike of anger, he lunged toward the doll and grabbed it around the throat with his now free hand.

"GET. STUFFED." The fox growled into the evil facsimile's face.

The doll sputtered and squealed in his grip, lower limbs thrashing, teeth gnashing, before Tails reeled his arm back, and threw it with all of his strength to the opposite side of the medical bay.

He frantically tore at the rest of his bindings with the doll's discarded knife, and fell to his knees as he lunged from the chair. Desperately Tails scrambled to his feet, wielding the knife as a weapon, desperately scanning around for any sign of the evil little doll.

There were noises. The pattering of small hands and feet. The clatter of metal on concrete. Before the doll burst from its cover, boosting through the air like a rocket right toward Miles' face.

He had been ready for that this time. He slashed with the knife, and was rewarded with a squeal of pain as the blade made contact.

The doll hit the ground with a thump, thrashing on the concrete as it tried to right itself.

"Predictable as always, doc..." Tails said, keeping his knife at the ready, "Maybe you ought to try switching up your tactics?"

"Ack..." the doll whimpered as it turned to glare at him, a bleeding gash across its face where he had struck it from the air. "BITE ME, FOX-BOY!!!"

Tails opened his mouth to respond... but fell silent as the doll began to quiver.

"No..." it muttered, glaring at its paws, "NO NO N-AAAAAAAAAGGGGH!!!!"

Miles could only watch in fascination as the doll fell to its knees, pounding the concrete with a steel-clawed mitt... and its covering of stuffing began to ripple. Veins popped, flesh solidified, fur sprouted, further bruising blossomed around its wounds... until the remaining stuffing converted entirely into flesh and blood, the organic material still sporting the tight stitching.

There was a final pop of cartilage, and the doll fell silent, the only sound its ragged breathing as fully formed lungs replaced whatever had been inside.

"No... no..." there was pitiful sobbing, almost recognisable as that of the doctor it had once been, before the doll looked back up to Miles... big, blue, _organic_ eyes stared at him, glistening with tears, the antenna on the head glowing dimly. "It's too late... it's too late..."

Tails, despite all instinct, allowed his knife to droop. He gestured with a hand. "Look, doc..." he said, watching as the pitiful doll staggered to its feet, "I don't know what you did... but I can help. If you give it up now... I'll help you find a way out of that body!"

The doll cocked its head, fiddling with its mitts pathetically. "P... promise?" the childish voice squeaked.

"It's the least I can do for.... what I did..." Miles replied, his own ears drooping. "If we work together... we can find a way! I swear it!"

The doll nodded timidly, holding out a paw. "Shake?"

Miles, despite his better judgement, padded forward and cautiously took the soft little hand in his own. 

And shrieked in sudden pain as metal claws dug into his palm.

"YOU IDIOT!!!!" The doll, eyes glowing a furious red once again and teeth fully bared, sliced into his hand with its vicious steel claws, screeching into his face. "YOU DETESTABLE LITTLE FOOL!!!! YOU HAVE NO IDEA, DO YOU???!?"

Miles lunged out with his knife, slashing at thin air as the doll swiftly darted away.

"You don't get it, MILES!!!" The doll snarled, now hovering above his head like a bothersome wasp, "My life force... my chaos energy... has completely bound to this form!! There IS no way out!! I'm STUCK like this!! FOREVER!!!!!"

"Well... Tails grunted back, raising his knife "Sucks to be you, I guess!!"

"I'm gonna KILL YOU, TAILS!!!" The doll screeched petulantly, fat angry tears dribbling from its newly reconstituted eyes, "I'M GONNA MAKE YOU PAY!!!"

Tails prepared himself for another suicidal frontal attack, before the doll grinned wide and wore a mocking , childish voice.

" _I know where your friends aaaare!!"_

Tails' eyes widened and his words caught in his throat, as the monstrous little creature darted away through the air and left the room with a devious cackle.

_Sonic. Amy. Unconscious._

Tails' heart plummeted, and panic gripped his chest.

"GET BACK HERE, YOU LITTLE CREEP!!!!"

.......................................................................

Tails hurried through the workshop, red and white sneakers pounding into the concrete, desperately running to catch up with the menacing little doll that had become of Robotnik. Terror filled his heart as he feared for his friends... he didn't even know if Robotnik had been telling the truth about Sonic. His brother could already be _dead_ as far as he knew...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGH!!!!!!!!"

Tails lurched around and yelped in shock as, with a vicious screech and the whirr of electric motors, the doll lunged at him from a tool shelf... armed with a dangerously spinning saw blade.

The fox darted back and desperately tried to escape as the doll swiped at him with the blade, and he cried out in pain as he felt flesh slice from one of his tails.

"HAHAHAHA!!!!!" The doll cackled with glee, the saw comically large in its paws, kicking its feet and grinning wide as Tails scrambled away on hands and knees, "THAT'S RIGHT!!! COME BACK HERE SO I CAN TAKE CARE OF THOSE PESKY EXTRA LIMBS FOR YOU, _MILES!!!!!!"_

Tails, crawling desperately away on all fours, rolled beneath a workbench and took a moment to catch his breath. He cursed himself. The doll had been waiting for him, luring him into the workshop to take him off guard... it seemed Robotnik's primary concern right now was revenge on the fox who had killed him.

"Come out, Tails..." the doll giggled in that high-pitched, sing-song voice that sent chills down Miles' spine, "Come out come out wherever you are..."

Tails bit his lip. The sawblade whirred with intent. He had to find something to fight back with. He'd fought full-sized Badniks before, surely he could take on one little doll?

One little doll currently possessed by the soul of his arch-nemesis.

...............................................................

"Come on, Tails..." The doll giggled, hefting the large hand saw in its paws. Robotnik, delirious and insane, scanned the workshop with glowing red eyes, his grin stretching wider. "I'm going to count to ten!!!" He squeaked, hovering low to the floor to inspect beneath the workbenches. "And if you don't come out..." He revved the sawblade with a press of a metal claw, the blade whirring with intent, "I'll make it _reeeeeeeeaaaaal slow_ when I find you!!!!"

There was no movement, no response. The doll snickered evilly.

"Have it your way... _playmate!!!!_ " The doll said gleefully, hovering back to head-height, "One... two... three..."

He revved the saw blade with each number, each time exerting a little more pressure.

"Four... five... are you there, Miles?"

The doll's ears perked at the scrape of shoes across concrete. The clack of metal on metal. The doll grinned.

"Six... seven... eight... nine..."

 _"PEEK-ABOO!!!!!_ "

The doll screeched in alarm as Miles lunged from behind a workbench, raising a blaster pistol... and fired. White-hot rounds slashed past the doll, causing it to spin in a panicked frenzy.

Miles squeezed the trigger once, twice, three times, four... and then ceased. All was silent. He smelled burned meat.

Slowly, the fox inched forward, his weapon held tight, to where the doll's body would be.

Where the doll's body... _should_ have been. All that was there was the saw.

Miles yelped as the thing caught him off guard again, this time pouncing from a nearby shelf, screwdriver in hand, slashing at his face over and over.

"YOU LITTLE SHIT!!!!!!!" 

Miles fell to the ground under the barrage of swipes, the pistol clattering away from a well-timed kick by his assailant. He screamed as the doll reared its head back and bared its teeth, glowing red eyes burning from a half-fleshless face. The endoskeleton beneath glistened with blood, one side of the face completely free of its wrapping.

"I'LL KILL YOU, TAILS!!!! I'LL KILL YOU YOU LITTLE BASTARD!!!!!"

Miles scrambled backward, desperately searching for his pistol... before the doll batted his remaining defending hand away from his face, and plunged the screwdriver into his chest.

Miles choked, tasting blood. He went cold. The tool was stuck in him right up to the handle, missing his heart by a fraction.

The doll giggled, rising into a malevolent cackle as it pointed at him and laughed. Fat tears dribbled from it's remaining flesh-bound eye, the other swivelling madly in its lidless socket.

"I... I GOT you, Tails!!" it laughed, like a victorious child during a game of tag, "I got you!! AND your stupid brother!!!" it laughed with gleeful mirth, almost doubling over with apparent hilarity. Miles could only lay there and watch, his extremities numb, eyes bulging at the sight of the horrific little creature.

"And who knew," it went on, a delirious smile plastered over its face, "After all these years... that all I needed to do... was turn myself into a _killer doll????"_

Tails simply gawped at the thing... at _Robotnik_ , as he doubled over and cackled, tears spattering onto the concrete floor, eyes swivelling madly.

This had to end.

With one determined motion, Tails reached over with one hand, and wrenched the screwdriver from his flesh with a growl of pain.

"Hahaha!! Hahah- huh?!"

The Robotnik-doll glared, wide eyed, as Tails snarled and thrust forward with the screwdriver... running him straight through, the tool poking right out the other side of his torso.

"AAAAAAGGGH!!!" The doll screeched and thrashed, blood spurting from its mouth in great gobs, paws wrapped around the screwdriver. While it was preoccupied, Tails lunged across the concrete floor and grabbed his pistol... and fired as he swung the weapon to face the doll.

The doll screeched as its left arm was blasted clean from its torso, clattering to the floor.

Tails fired again, this time taking the right leg. The doll toppled over, hitting the concrete with a wet thud.

"Nng… nnngh…"

Miles watched in horror as the doll, bleeding from its injuries, tried to crawl its way toward him, red eyes locked on his, sharks' teeth gritting in agony.

"I'll... GET YOU, TAILS!!!" Robotnik spat, blood spattering from his mouth to the floor, "I'LL GET YOU!!! YOU CAN'T KILL ME!!! I'LL BE BACK FOR YOU, JUST YOU SEE!!!!"

Tails grit his teeth and set his pistol's sights over the evil, leering face. "Playtime's over," he muttered.

With a final pull of the trigger, the doll's head vanished in an explosion of flesh and metal, and the little body slumped to the ground lifelessly.

Miles' heart beat like a drum, the pain from his stab wound lancing through his chest. He clasped his hand over the wound, doing his best to stop the bleeding, and limped toward the inert doll, pistol at the ready.

It didn't move a millimetre, simply laying there in a pool of its own blood.

And then he lunged backward, almost slamming to the ground once again, as a crackle of orange electricity sparked away from the deceased doll, snapping in the air above, the doctor's disembodied voice almost audible over the terrible noise... before dissipating slowly into nothing, the workshop lights flickering on and off repeatedly as it vanished.

Tails gawped as the remains of the doll began to rapidly decompose, first the flesh sloughing off like melting toffee, disintegrating into nothing, followed shortly by the robotic endoskeleton. The steel frame melted and ran like lead, the mechanical innards sparking a little as they joined the rest of the form... until nothing but a dark stain was left coating the young engineer's workshop floor. Not a shred of evidence the doll had existed.

He could only stare at the dark patch, eyes wide, body shaking, brain trying to process what it was he'd just witnessed... before shoving it all into the back of his mind, the logical engineer taking over. He set his pistol aside, confident he would no longer need the killing weapon. He had to patch up his wounds... and check on his friends.

..................................................................

_Some days later..._

"Hey..." Sonic finished pouring the mugs of tea and grabbed two of them, carrying them over the kitchen and handing one to Amy. "You doing okay, Ames?"

The pink hedgehog, dark circles under her eyes, scratches on her face still sore, nodded tiredly as she accepted the hot drink. "Yeah..." she said wearily, fighting back a yawn, "Just real sleepy..."

Sonic nodded in understanding, rubbing at his chest where the knife wound had been treated. It was still sore as hell, but at least he'd lived. "I know, me too... but like Tails says, give it a few days... let our energy levels recover... and we'll be as good as new! You'll see!"

She offered him a small grin, before eyeing him with concern. "What about you?" The said, eyeing the bandages around his arms and upper torso, "you're the one who took a knife through the ribs..."

He smirked, the expression not quite reaching his eyes. "I'm Sonic the Hedgehog!" He replied, as though that were proof enough against silly little things such as stab wounds, "It'll take more than that to slow me down!"

Amy nodded and sipped her tea. "What about Tails?" She replied, "He didn't seem so good when I saw him earlier..."

Sonic hummed in response. "I know... do you blame him? After everything?"

She considered for a moment, and shook her head. "No... no, I suppose not..."

"Don't worry Ames," The blue hedgehog said, reaching out to give her hand a comforting squeeze, "I'll go check on him... somebody has to make sure he's getting some decent sleep, after all!"

She chuckled. "Big brother mode engaged again, huh?"

"Never goes off..." he replied with a wink, reaching for the hot chocolate steaming on the side and clasping it in his free hand. He winced as a stab of pain from his wound, but did his best not to show. "I'll see you in a few!"

She gave him a little wave as he left the room, carrying his own drink as well as Tails'. He whistled a tune as he walked, making sure not to spill the damn drinks over his sneakers. In truth, he wasn't as cheerful as he tried to project... but he had to keep morale up somehow. That was his job as team leader.

"Tails?" Sonic called as he trotted down the stairs to the workshop, "You still up buddy?"

A murmur echoed from deeper in the workshop in response, and Sonic headed further in.

He made _real_ sure to step around the dark patch that still coated the workshop floor, that had been proof against anything the brothers could throw at it.

He found Tails, as usual, slumped at his computer station, poring through the data retrieved from the last Robotnik base... or what they hoped would be the last Robotnik base. There was no telling now.

"Hey buddy..." the hedgehog said, orange ears perking as their owner turned his head, "Nice hot drink!"

"Thanks, Sonic..." Tails muttered, tired eyes glancing to the mug as he retrieved it.

Sonic took a swig of his own drink, and gestured to the patch on Tails' own chest. "Healing up okay?"

Tails shrugged. "Eh. Had worse, can't complain. How about you?"

Sonic grinned. "I guess I'm just lucky I have my clever little bro around to patch me up!"

Tails grimaced. "You know..." he said slowly, "technically I wasn't the one who stabilized you..."

Sonic's grin faltered as he understood. "Sure, buddy... but you were the one who ended it all... we'd probably all be dead right now if you hadn't done what you did..."

"I feel so much better..." Tails replied, not sounding it even a little.

The two brothers remained silent, the computer monitors before them flickering, their mugs of hot drinks steaming.

"Do you really think he's gone?" Sonic said quietly, "for good?"

Tails declined to answer for a few tense moments, calculating, before he chuckled humourlessly. "You'd think so, after killing him twice..." the fox muttered, "But you know something Sonic? He said he'd be back. He said he was coming back for me... I might be rational, but... I don't think it's the last we're gonna see of him."

Sonic hummed darkly, giving his brother a squeeze of the shoulder. "You finished working on those security systems?"

Tails grunted. "I'm gonna run more diagnostics. Just to be safe."

Sonic nodded in approval, before leaning back up and turning to leave. "Good," he said. "And Tails?"

The fox glanced over his shoulder toward his older brother. "Yeah?"

Sonic smirked. "Try and get some sleep tonight, okay?"

Tails nodded, declining to return the smile. "Goodnight, Sonic."

"Night, little bro."

With that, Sonic left his younger brother to his work, the tired eyes of Miles Prower flickering over the information displayed to him on the screen. He'd trawled through Robotnik's records for hours, but try as he might, he could unearth no records of that monstrous little doll. It was like the thing had never existed.

Still, he knew better... and with what he had seen, he was doubtful it would be the last he'd see of the 'Tails Doll' Robotnik had become. 

His ears perked, a chill running down his spine as he thought he heard that childish, evil little cackle echo quietly through the workshop. he strained his ears. Nothing.

His fur stood on end as he returned to his work. He was _not_ going to sleep tonight, that was for sure.


End file.
